rap :: Blog

Young Guru's impressive resume highlights more than a decade of experience in sound engineering and production, as well as his role as A&R for Roc-A-Fella Records and Def Jam Recordings. However, he's most lauded for his work behind the boards, shaping some of hip-hop's brightest talents: mixing 10 of Jay-Z's 11 albums, and DJing on the Watch the Throne tour, as well as Jay-Z's legendary Carnegie Hall and Barclays Center shows. On several recordings, Jay-Z himself offers verbal acknowledgements of Guru's importance.

As one of audio's most important minds and essential voices, Guru has elevated the discourse of audio engineering philosophy, science and technology. On March 19, 2014, Young Guru sat down with Rock and Roll Hall of Fame education director Jason Hanley for an exclusive interview, sharing stories from his years in the music industry. "The best music, in my opinion, is made by small groups of people in these small areas," says Guru. "If you go to Detroit and look at the Motown house, it's little – it's super little – but you think about the immense amount of music that came out of that house; or if you go ...

No rapper had ever headlined a night at Glastonbury and Jay Z’s booking was subject to open opposition. Mocking the haters, he opened his set with covers of Oasis and Amy Winehouse songs. Jay Z proved the festival wasn’t just about “the tradition of guitar music” as the crowd of 150,000 chanted along with the entire set and established that hip hop wasn’t a side-bar to anything.

Chef Michael Symon's B Spot Burgers will be among the featured eateries at this year's Chef Jam

The recipe for the 2013 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum Chef Jam is as follows: Take cuisine from more than 20 of the Midwest's best chefs and restaurants, add live performance from award-winning act Asleep at the Wheel and blend all into lively party atmosphere inside the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. Now in its fourth year at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the once-a-year Chef Jam event takes place this Sunday, June 9, 2013, and promises to be the loudest dining experience of the year. Fittingly, the Rock Hall caught up with celebrity chef and Cleveland native Michael Symon, whose B Spot Burgers restaurants will be among the eateries dishing up an eclectic sampling of food at Chef Jam. With summer around the corner, and food and rock on his mind, Symon shared his ultimate summer playlist – a list as diverse as this year's Chef Jam menu and the Hall of Fame itself, with cuts from Beastie Boys, Heart, Metallica, Public Enemy, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Van Morrison and more. "There is nothing like the grill and the tunes cranked up on a nice summer's evening," says ...

On April 18, 2013, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame officially ushers the 2013 class of inductees into the Hall of Fame during the 28th annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. The class – Lou Adler, Heart, Quincy Jones, Albert King, Randy Newman, Public Enemy, Rush and Donna Summer – are represented in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland's newest exhibit. In the series of clips below, get a behind the scenes look at the 2013 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductees exhibit. Visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum to see the new exhibit!

Albert King

Randy Newman

Public Enemy

Rush

Donna Summer

2009 Hall of Fame Inductee Rev Run shares thoughts on Hall of Fame and Public Enemy

2009 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Rev Run of Run-DMC recently visited the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, Ohio, where he sat down with the Rock Hall to discuss what it was like to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and his impressions of 2013 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductees Public Enemy.

Grandmaster Flash (Joseph Saddler) didn't want to make "The Message." His emcees, the Furious Five, apart from Melle Mel (Melvin Glover), thought it was a bad idea. But when this grim slice of urban journalism hit in the summer of 1982, it was as inevitable as Woody Guthrie once had been: It was politics taken to the streets. Until "The Message," rap had been largely celebratory music, reflecting its block-party roots. When Sugar Hill Records eminence Sylvia Robinson pushed for "The Message" – ultimately a collaboration between Glover and studio percussionist Duke Bootee (Ed Fletcher) – the others balked: who wanted to take their problems to the dance floor? Still, the song took off, reaching an audience that had once dismissed rap as idle boasting, countering such notions with lead rapper Melle Mel's repeated, weary conclusion: It’s like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder how I keep from going under. For all its success, though, the song had its detractors. While many considered it the greatest rap statement of all time, others called it a sop for white people. However, like most groundbreaking records, "The Message" transcended the rhetoric. It cleared the way for a new kind ...

The Rock Hall Blog

This is where we will post insights from Rock Hall staff and guest writers about exhibits, events, concerts and more with an emphasis on lesser known facets of the Rock Hall. Consider this your backstage pass.